The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Grieving family meet investigators
Investigators probing the death of Kirkcaldy man Sheku Bayoh held a three-hour meeting with his grieving family yesterday.
The Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) has taken over the enquiry into the incident which caused the 31-year-old’s death on Sunday morning.
Mystery surrounds the exact circumstances which led to the popular father-of-two dying, but sources have suggested he may have been the victim of “positional asphyxiation” while being restrained by police.
Solicitor Aamer Anwar, who is acting on behalf of Mr Bayoh’s family, said the cause of death had yet to be fully ascertained.
He revealed the family had instructed their own pathologist to act in the next few days.
Adding that yesterday’s meeting had been extremely distressing for the relatives, he said: “To be fair, the PIRC have an important job to do.
“What we would stress is if any members of the public have any information they should contact the PIRC.
“If they don’t feel comfortable doing that they should contact my office and we will put them in touch with the PIRC.”
Mr Anwar reiterated he found it unacceptable that police had told the family several different stories regarding events leading to Mr Bayoh’s death.
“They were given at least five different versions of events by officers from Fife in the hours that followed Sheku’s death,” he said.
“We expect that to form part of the investigation into the circumstances of Sheku’s death.
“Clearly the family are trying their best to keep an open mind. That is difficult when police officers are systematically lying.”
Mr Anwar said the family was extremely grateful to Mr Bayoh’s friends and the local community for their support during such difficult circumstances.
“They will expect to hold a vigil within the next few weeks,” he added.
Meanwhile, Kirkcaldy MSP David Torrance has described Sunday’s incident as tragic.
“The public need to have full confidence in police activities,” he said.